High Mix Low Volume

It's not impossible to balance in a non-repetitive situation. You'll need to investigate mix-model JIT methods. It takes more effort, but it is very possible.

First is to figure out which assemblies are going to be the most similiar, which ones use common components, common processes, common tools, etc. This way you will build the like assemblies together so as to minimize change-over. Example, build all of assemblies that use setup #1, then build all of the assemblies that use setup #2, etc.

Eliminate as much set up as you can, because in order to build to a daily rate, you could be doing a lot of change-over.

You will also want to standardize PCB panel size so that your rails (if used) won't need to be adjusted.

The trick to mix-model is standardization. Even though you're building 50 different products that have different size PCB's, if the panel size is the same, if they use the same basic components except a few exceptions, for all practical purposes your building the same thing. You'll only be changing out the paste stencil and loading different program's for the machines. Piece of cake!

Good luck

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To succeed in a �non-repetitive high-mix manufacturing environment�. Humm, that sounds interesting. Guessing, it would be important to: * Control processes and process materials. * Develop outstanding process documentation. * Convert engineering documentation to machine information pretty accurately. * Protect piece parts from damage / degradation.

Actually, not that much different than the rest of us, eh?

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a software tool like SMT Office from http://www.diplan.de may help for this task.

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